Weekend Update!

It's a long weekend! I can't tell you how excited I am to have Monday off, and I have lots of plans formulating for the weekend. Tonight the boy is taking me to dinner at a fabulous tapas place in town, as his way of apologizing for giving me plenty of extra craft time tonight leaving me all alone so he can hang with his boys. Saturday I have a wedding to attend, and Sunday and Monday will be filled with plenty of cookouts and time with family and friends.

What I'll be making:

I am loving this tutorial on starch method applique- makes it look so easy, and I definitely want to try it out

These necklaces make me want to learn how to crochet, but that will likely never happen. Looks like I'll be stalking her etsy store!

What I'll be eating:

A different take on egg nests/egg in a basket

something new to grill, WW friendly

What I'll be wearing:*

Really obsessed with prints like this right now

*This category should actually be titled, What I would be wearing if I had a lot of extra money/time to shop and/or sew

OK, and with that, I'm off to enjoy my long weekend!

Go and make things- W

Can you guess?

Half of the time, I don't even know what I'm making.

Any guesses?

Here's some additional examples- unfinished of course. These designs don't go together, but they're all the same thing. sortof. Hoping to get them to a more finished product tonight, as I'll be at a special weeknight edition of CCC! (Can't figure it out? Theres an extra hint in the tags!)

I'll be using my awesome groupon at one of the fabric stores in town after work today. I get to pick out $60 of fabric and notions, so you can expect some shopping pictures up this week as well. I'm hoping to not get too distracted though, and I'm actually pretty excited about this current idea!

Here's hoping it all comes together.

Go and make things- W

What I Sent

Oh I've been neglectful. I have been running around like a mad person, fighting multiple illnesses and a crazy busy work week(or two) before making it back to all my crafty duties.

I'm still hard at work on my swap items for the Dia de Los Muertos Swap, hoping to finish on Thursday so I can mail Friday. Tuesday is the last day to mail, but thankfully I don't have too much left to do.

I did send all my goodies for the Fabric Scavenger Hunt Swap and my partner received, so I can share with you what I sent her:
 

A reversible sewing machine cover(left) to fulfill something cozy. For senders choice some fabric(top center) and for something green I sent four FQs with green in them(bottom center). Embroidery scissors on a necklace for something sharp(right), and fabric weights for something bumpy(right).

The sewing machine cover was tougher to make than I anticipated. I read a couple of tutorials on it, looked at a couple of patterns and thought, "please its two rectangles sewn together, how hard could that be?!" and then attempted to proceed without a plan, resulting in many errors. Thankfully all were fixable but I wasted a lot of time redoing things because I didn't have a step by step plan. It's still a super simple project, though, and I'm planning to make one for myself, probably with a tutorial for you, sharing all that I've learned. :)

As for the fabric I sent, you'll see some of that pop up later. I ordered a lot of it online and had to cut my own fat quarters, since most stores won't send them to you that way, so I saved a bit of it for myself. Especially excited about that tea pot fabric.

The package that she sent me in return was absolutely amazing! I've had the pictures on my camera for a while, so I still need to post them, but let me tell you, I was blown away! Everything was perfect for me, she clearly did her homework, and I was especially impressed with the neatness of her sewing, as that's still something I have to work really, really hard on. But that's for another post. In the meantime, I'll be hard at work making ________ and some coordinating _______ ______ for the Dia de los Muertos swap, and hoping I finish in time!

Go and make things -W

PS- go RIGHT NOW to Sew, Mama, Sew's blog page and check out the absolutely amazing giveaways happening all across the internet right now! They started Monday but most are open through Wednesday and some even through Friday. There's some really awesome stuff up for grabs!

Ode to A Tulip

Dear ugly lumpy blue thing on my much overdue spring themed embroidery,

I don't even know who you are anymore. You certainly didn't start out this way. First, you were a lotus flower, big and proud. But your petals looked like seaweed and you were a hideous orange color that didn't match. I ripped you out. Next, you became a cattail like plant, purple and green, matched perfectly with your twin on the other half of the hoop. But you were droopy and your constant pity party drew too much attention away from your flowery sisters. I ripped you out, too. Now, you are an ugly lumpy blue "tulip," and I hate you even more than your predecessors. You are not a tulip. You aren't even a flower. Your "petals" are lopsided ovals and there's an empty space where your stem should be. You obviously have no respect for personal space, the way you crowd the other flowers. You alone have been holding me back from completion, but I won't stand for it anymore. I will rip out your stitches, erase you from my memory and start again. In your place I will put a simple leaf, extending out from a nearby plant. And maybe then I will be finished. Please don't take this personally. The rose next to you could be next. It's clear I'm not meant to make pretty, happy things.

Sincerely,

W

oh the huge manatee!

Life is so exhausting when you're a kitty. I've kindof felt like this all week, too. Work has been emotionally draining lately and by the time I get home theres no more room in my brain for creativity, only more nyquil.

But I am improving.

Today I sent off my Craftster package to my awesome awesome partner, and now get to play the waiting game until she gets it. I hope she likes everything, these swaps can be intimidating! As soon as she receives I'll post pictures of everything I sent (and what SHE sent!) I will give some clues in the meantime- the categories I fulfilled (we picked 5 out of 10) were:

something bumpy

something green

something cozy

something sharp

and sender's choice

the last one is kindof a freebie but I think she'll be ok with that.

Also I made the first item for my Dia De Los Muertos themed swap, but as my wonderful partner is now a follower of this blog (welcome!) there will be no hints! Starting on another item for her hopefully soon. Until then, I leave you with the following gratuitous cat photo, because I'm sickly and I can.

A couple things

1. Thor was excellent, I highly recommend it. Makes me excited for The Avengers, and I'm already thinking of some great fun things to stitch up from the movie. And Asgard was very pretty.
2. This design from Mr. X Stitch makes me want to try blackwork: (click the photo for a link)

3. Being sick and stuck in bed does not mean you get extra crafting time. (Though my next project is to craft Day of the Dead themed items, and I feel like death. So at least that's appropriate.)

4. I need to learn how to crochet so I can make this: (click the photo for a link)

That's all for now. I'll have a longer post in the week when I'm feeling better, but for now my bed and a cup of tea are calling me.

Weekend Update

Things I want/need/should do this weekend:

Work on my last knitted potholder

THOR
Craft something for Mother's Day (oops!)

Finish my swap on craftster

Laundry

Get some quality couch time with my boyfriend and cat

Celebrate not one, but THREE friend's birthdays

Sleep in

Taking out my frustrations

I have been really fed up with embroidery the last couple of days. A while ago I started working on a couple of mini hoops just sitting in front of the tv, working with the supplies I had right in front of me. I free handed them, expecting to just kill a little time and keep my hands busy. For whatever reason, I ended up being really inspired and worked on them diligently, loving the outcome. For a while anyway.

Now everything I stitch I pull right back out. Nothing looks right and the most frustrating part is it's not the stitches themselves, it's the design. I guess that's my punishment for not planning ahead.

So I've temporarily abandoned them for some knitting, in addition to the projects I made for my swap partner on Craftster (to be revealed at a later date). It's been therapeutic to feel the work progress in my hands as it grows, and working with a totally different color palette will hopefully help the creative juices flow once more. If not, I can always waste several hours a day on Pinterest.